Red Wings Free-Agency Splash: The Cause and Effect

Red Wings Free-Agency Splash: The Cause and Effect

The Detroit Red Wings are in a much better spot now that they went out and made moves. That much is undeniable. But, the problem with all the moves they made is the fact that they might have overdone it. Having locked up multiple players for the next couple years, the opportunities now for the young guys to make an impact on the NHL roster is next-to-none.

Taking a look at the Red Wings current roster, they currently have this as their opening night lineup(upon speculation);

Forwards

T. Bertuzzi – D. Larkin – D. Perron

J. Vrana – A. Copp – L. Raymond

F. Zadina – P. Suter – D. Kubalik

J. Veleno – M. Rasmussen – O. Sundqvist

Defense

B. Chiarot – M. Seider

O. Maatta – F. Hronek

J. Walman – G. Lindstrom

Goalies

V. Husso

A. Nedeljkovic

Now, looking at that roster, I feel very confident in their abilities, but what happens to Simon Edvinsson? Jonathan Berggren? William Wallinder? Elmer Soderblom? There is no spot for them. They have these players locked up for the time being and now they have no room to give their young guys an opportunity.

Now, Simon Edvinsson at best would start the season on the third line with Gustav Lindstrom. However, it’s very possible that they could move him up the ranks as the season goes. Additionally, if Edvinsson does move up the ranks, that’d mean that they’d be paying Ben Chiarot almost $5,000,000 to play second-line minutes. Which, in other words, would be an overpay. And that’s just the defense.

When it comes to the offense, you have guys like Joe Veleno, Michael Rasmussen, Elmer Soderblom, Jonathan Berggren and many more names that need opportunities. But now that they went out and signed a bunch of guys, their minutes are going to be decreased and we won’t really be able to see them take a jump for the next couple seasons. Which would pretty much mean they’d officially become busts.

Now, when I say all of this, I don’t want you to get the wrong idea. I’m not saying that the signings they made were terrible. In fact, I think they were very good moves by Yzerman. But, I’m not thrilled about the amount of signings they made.

Joe Veleno showed potential last season and I was fully expecting him to open the season as the center three and work his way up to the center two position. But now, it’s very unlikely he’ll surpass 10-12 minutes per game. And the same goes for Michael Rasmussen.

Finding a balance this season was important for the Red Wings. They had to find a balance between youth and veterans. Now, it’s all proven players and little-to-no youth.

It’ll be interesting to see how this affects the future of the Red Wings.